After acquiring a bank and ascending to a top-15 mortgage lender spot, MetLife Inc. has now completed its exit from banking.
In 2011, MetLife Home Loans originated $24 billion, ranking it as the 12th-biggest residential lender in the country.
But by 2011, parent MetLife Inc. — which acquired the company in 2008 from First Horizon National Corp. through subsidiary MetLife Bank, N.A. — came to the conclusion that bank regulations were putting it at a disadvantage with its insurance competitors.
So in July 2011, the New York-based company disclosed plans to unload the bank. Three months later it announced plans to sell the mortgage unit.
GE Capital Financial Inc. subsequently agreed to acquire most of MetLife Bank, N.A.’s, depository business. But no buyer was found for MetLife Home Loans, which shut down last year.
However, MetLife Inc. still needed regulatory approval to abandon its status as a bank-holding company.
An announcement Thursday said that MetLife has received required approvals from both the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve to de-register as a bank-holding company.
The statement also indicated that the sale of MetLife Bank’s depository business to General Electric Capital was completed on Jan. 11.
